Issue Pack

This issue pack was designed to provide radio broadcasters with the information they need to create effective and entertaining radio programs on the post-harvest value chain for groundnuts. Actions in the post-harvest groundnut value chain include drying, plucking, shelling, grading, storing, marketing, and processing groundnuts.

This issue pack focuses on groundnuts in Malawi, but much of the information here can be adapted to other sub-Saharan African countries where groundnuts are grown.

The issue pack begins with this introduction, then Section 2 presents a true story about a groundnut processor.

Section 3 presents factual background information on groundnut post-harvest activities. Please see Resource Pack 95, Item 9 – An introduction to value chains – for a definition of “value chain,” and for a better understanding of why value chains are important for both broadcasters and farmers.

In section 4, we offer some suggestions for creating programs on post-harvest activities in groundnuts.

In the final section, section 5, we list sources for further information on the post-harvest value chain for groundnuts. This includes resource organizations, online radio programs, online videos, and online documents.

You might use the information in this issue pack in several ways. For example:

You could use the story in section 2 as a starting point for creating your own local stories. Interview groundnut processors, traders, and others.

You can use section 3 as background information for any program on groundnuts.

You could use the programming suggestions in section 4 as starting places for creating a program on groundnuts

You could contact one or more of the organizations listed in section 5 for information or for interview experts.

You could use the audio and video resources and online documents in section 5 to help create programs on groundnuts.

II. Groundnut story

Mr. Kuliyani Chadooka is the chairman of the Nthiransembe Co-operative, a farmers’ group that processes and markets groundnut products such as cooking oil and animal feed. Mr. Chadooka is 40 years old and married, with five children. He grows groundnuts and other crops in the village of Mphanga, near Mchinji, west of Malawi’s capital city of Lilongwe and near the Zambian border.

Mr. Chadooka joined the co-op in 2009 because he wanted and needed a change. He had been losing money with groundnuts. There were no reliable markets and he was dependent on vendors he didn’t fully trust. His farming losses led to many problems – he couldn’t afford school materials for his children; he struggled to buy clothes for his family; and the family lived in a dilapidated grass-roofed hut.

Since joining the group, his life has changed. The co-op buys his groundnuts at a competitive price, and his shares in the co-op reap dividends at the end of each year. By working together with the other co-op members, Mr. Chadooka has been able to build an iron-roofed house and buy four goats, and is now able to buy clothes for his family and afford his children’s school needs.

This season, he expanded his groundnut fields from two to three acres, and he plans to buy land to grow more. He says he now takes the business of groundnut farming very seriously.

The Nthiransembe Co-operative started in 2007 and received processing equipment on loan from a government program. They opened an oil refining factory in 2012, and are well on the way to fully repaying the loan. The co-op has 56 members and has carved out a reliable and lucrative market for quality cooking oil and animal feed. You can read more about the co-op in item 4 of this Pack.

Introduction
Farmers can lose 20-30% of groundnut pods during harvest. The reasons for these losses vary, but it is clear that harvesting before or after the recommended harvest period can significantly reduce yields and quality. If you harvest too early, groundnut seeds will shrink when drying, which decreases the weight, oil content and seed quality. If you harvest too late, seed quality will decrease because of mould infestation, which leads to aflatoxin contamination. Harvesting too late also reduces yield because the pegs are weaker and the pods break off and remain in the ground. Soil moisture at harvest time is also critical. Too much moisture in the soil at harvest decreases quality, while too little moisture can increase pod losses.

Losses during storage are a major problem in climates with high temperatures and high humidity. These conditions favour mould growth, which leads to aflatoxin contamination in stored groundnuts. But following the recommended drying and storage practice can minimize these losses. For example, when packing and storage materials are water-proof, groundnut quality will be maintained. It’s important to note that unshelled seeds will have greater viability than groundnuts stored as kernels.

To minimize post-harvest losses, the most critical step is efficient drying.

Drying

Storing groundnuts with high moisture content makes them prone to mould infestation, which leads to aflatoxin contamination. To minimize aflatoxin and disease, it’s important to dry groundnuts effectively.

Traditional drying techniques include: laying plants’ pods upwards in the field for several days, drying groundnuts on roofs, heaping groundnuts in the field or in houses, and storing wet groundnuts in bags while waiting for the sun. These practices greatly increase the risk of aflatoxin contamination, and should be avoided.

There are several more effective methods for drying groundnuts. Farmers can build cocks, dry groundnuts on racks or A-frames, or use windrows and mats (these methods are described below). Whatever method is used, it’s important to remember that when groundnut pods are exposed to the sun for too long, seed quality can badly deteriorate and seeds may not germinate.

The goal of drying is to reduce the moisture content of groundnut pods to 6-8%. When they are this dry, they are ready to be stored. Farmers can determine the moisture of the groundnuts by shaking the kernels. When the nuts reach the recommended moisture content, shaking will produce a rattling sound. The key to good drying is to dry quickly but steadily. Too rapid drying can result in lower quality groundnuts.

Some effective methods of drying are presented below:

Using cocks
To create a cock (also called a Mandela cock), first build a circular platform of soil about 1-2 metres across and 18 inches high. Place the groundnut plants in a circle around the perimeter of the platform, with the pods in the inner part of the circle. Continue to place the plants around the circle, building up the layers and gradually reducing the diameter of the circle until there is only a small opening at the top of the cock. Then cover this opening with groundnut plants, with the pods turned downwards. The cock can be built to a height of one to one and a half. metres, and it takes 2-4 weeks to reach the recommended moisture content of 6-8%. (See the photo at http://teca.fao.org/sites/default/files/technology_files/GroundnutManual.pdf)

The platform ensures that the lower layers of the cock do not become waterlogged when it rains. Do not use polyethylene to cover the base of the cock as this will reduce water drainage if it rains. Do not use polyethylene sheets to cover the cock because moisture will build up underneath the sheets through condensation. (For more information on building cocks, see item #3 in this Resource Pack, and items 1-4 in Resource Pack #97).

Drying on racks
Groundnuts can also be dried on a rack with crossed pieces of wood. Shelves can be 90 centimetres long and 45 centimetres apart, with the lowest shelf 45 centimetres off the ground. Position the rack so that the groundnuts are shaded from direct sun. Racks can also be stored inside structures, including houses. Pods dried on racks which are not protected from the rain by a shelter should be covered or taken indoors during wet weather.

Drying with A-frames
After lifting the groundnuts, gather and stack the plants on an A-frame with the pods facing inwards and away from the sun. To build an A-frame, use three thick poles as a base and attach thinner poles to the two main poles of the A. (See photo on page 2 of http://www.icrisat.org/gsp/03_ENG_harvesting_Guide_april1.pdf ) The wilted plants are placed on the thinner poles, which act as shelves.

The lowest shelf should be about 45 centimetres above the ground. If the A-frame is constructed properly, the drying foliage will protect the pods from rainfall and wind, and drying air will circulate freely. Groundnuts are normally left to dry for three to four weeks before the pods are picked.

Drying in windrows and mats
If groundnuts must be dried in the field (which is not recommended), it is a good idea to use windrows, where plants are laid in rows to catch the wind and dry more quickly. (See photo at http://www.icrisat.org/gsp/03_ENG_harvesting_Guide_april1.pdf.) Groundnuts should dry in windrows for 3-5 days before picking or stripping. After this period, pick the pods and lay them in a thin layer on mats or other surfaces in the sun for 2-5 days. This will usually dry the pods to the required moisture content for storing. Pods dried in windrows and on mats should be covered or taken indoors during wet weather.

Plucking/stripping

When they are sufficiently dry, the groundnuts pods are plucked or stripped from the plants. Small-scale farmers normally do this by hand, though mechanical strippers may be available (see Video resources #1, #2, and #3 below).

In hand stripping, pods are individually detached from the plants. It is not recommended to thresh groundnuts by beating them with sticks because the pods can be damaged.

Grading and cleaning

Groundnuts can be graded before storage. Farmers should remove any crop residues mixed in with groundnut pods because the residues are possible sources of the fungi which cause aflatoxin. Farmers should also grade out damaged, split or blemished pods because they reduce the selling price. It is a good idea to also grade groundnuts after shelling in order to fetch a better price better than selling unshelled groundnuts.

Grading makes the shelling process proceed more quickly and efficiently.

Storage

Storage bags should be made of materials that allow air to circulate, such as gunny bags. Polythene or polypropylene bags should be used only when they are made of materials and constructed in such a way that they allow air flow. Restricting air flow encourages the growth of fungi. For the same reason, do not cover stored bags with plastic or canvas. And never put damp groundnuts in bags or other storage containers. In other words, make sure the stored groundnuts are dry.

Bags should be stored off the ground to allow free air circulation Farmers can lay bags on a platform of wooden planks to avoid contact with the ground and walls and to ensure air circulation. If bags are stacked, leave a gap between stacks to allow air flow. Do not stack bags beyond reasonable height.

The storage place should be dry and have good air flow. Ideally, the storage area should be cool, as this will prolong the storage life of the pods. Farmers must keep storage areas clean at all times.

If farmers cannot use bags, they can store groundnuts in clay pots (mbiya in Chichewa) or woven baskets and cribs (nkhokwe). Pots and baskets are placed in a clean, cool spot in the house, and cribs kept outside. Farmers often plaster baskets and other containers with mud and cow dung to dispel pests. If the pods are stored loose (which is not recommended), place them on a platform one metre above the ground.

Farmers can treat storage facilities and groundnuts with insecticides such as acetellic dust before storage. But insecticides are too expensive for most small-scale farmers. Without insecticides, effective storage depends on following recommended drying and storage practices, such as the practices explained here and in the resources listed below.

Inspect stored groundnuts for damage every two weeks. It is very important to monitor insect populations so that control measures can be taken as soon as you notice an infestation. (For more on how to inspect stored crops, including groundnuts, see Resource Document #15, Chapter 5, pages 48-55.)

Post-harvest pest management

Stored groundnuts are vulnerable to attack by insect pests. The main storage pests are the groundnut seed beetle (also called the groundnut borer or groundnut weevil), the rust-red flour beetle, and the merchant grain beetle. When groundnuts are damaged by insects, that damage affects seed quality, increases the susceptibility to moulds, reduces seed viability, or even results in complete loss of groundnuts.

How badly pests damage stored groundnuts depends greatly on the temperature and moisture content of stored groundnuts. Mature pods are less susceptible to deterioration than immature pods. Cracks in the pods increase susceptibility to pest attack, while careful drying reduces susceptibility to insect attack.

Most pests are unable to penetrate intact groundnut pods, so leaving groundnuts in the shell limits pest damage. But the groundnut seed beetle can penetrate pods. Insecticides will provide some protection against these pests, but insecticides are expensive.

It is also important to inspect stored crops regularly. If you notice low levels of insect infestation during inspection, there is enough time to use control measures and limit losses.

Pest traps are useful tools for monitoring storage areas. Using pest traps for inspection often requires less time and effort than other methods. Traps cause less damage to groundnuts and often provide the first evidence of infestations that develop between inspections. A variety of traps are available at agro-dealers, including traps for rats and for moths. Traps vary in cost, sophistication and in the range of insects attracted to them.

For most small-scale farmers, the high cost of insecticides and the increasing amount of pest resistance to insecticides require a strong focus on good storage practices, such as those described in this document.

Other guidelines and tips for managing storage pests include:

ensuring that storage areas are relatively cool and dry. This creates conditions which are unfavourable for insect growth and development.

Good hygiene will limit insect infestations in storage. Before groundnuts are placed in storage, farmers should thoroughly clean storage containers and surrounding areas to remove all insect-infested crop or plant residues. It is important not to place the new harvest on top of what remains of the previous harvest.

For more information on storing grains and pulses (including groundnuts), see Resource document #14.

Aflatoxin
After harvest, groundnuts can be infested by the Aspergillusspecies fungi which release aflatoxin. Mould growth and thus, aflatoxin contamination occurs in various ways after harvest, including:

water or other liquids touching shells during the shelling process;

insufficient drying of groundnuts;

high temperatures in storage rooms;

high moisture in storage rooms; and

damage to nuts during transportation.

If you find mould growth in stored groundnuts:

Separate and burn the affected pods. Do not feed them to animals or humans because they can cause cancer leading to death.

Shelling

If you store shelled seeds, they will deteriorate rapidly. So farmers should only shell groundnuts just before they are needed – whether for home consumption, marketing or planting. Shelling can be done by hand or with machines. Seeds which are immature, infested by pests, discoloured, mouldy or shrivelled should be thrown away. It’s important to remove dust and foreign material such as dirt and vegetation, as these materials can encourage insect infestation and growth of moulds.

Hand shelling is labour-intensive but effective for small quantities. It is particularly effective for choosing planting seed because it causes less damage to the seeds.

Do not sprinkle water on dry pods when shelling. While this is a very common practice, it is critical to avoid adding moisture to the nuts. Minimizing moisture is the single most important factor in controlling the growth of mould.

It’s not recommended to put pods into sacks and beat the sacks with sticks or trample on the sacks. This produces a high number of damaged seeds.

Hand-operated mechanical sheller can shell 50 kilograms of groundnuts per hour. Farmers can hand-shell about one kilogram of groundnuts per hour. If a household produces 800 kilos of groundnuts from one hectare of land, hand shelling would take approximately 800 hours, compared to the 16 hours that would be required for mechanical shelling.

Processing

Groundnuts can be processed into many products, including cooking oil, groundnut flour, peanut butter, biodiesel, roasted nuts, and animal feeds. Groundnuts are also used as ingredients in chocolate, energy bars and cakes, and can be coated with flour to make deep-fried products.

Farmers most often process groundnuts by hand-pounding them into flour, called nsinjiro in Chichewa. Many farmers also hand-pound groundnuts to make peanut butter. Roasted and cooked nuts are also very common.

Groundnuts used in processing must be clean and free from mould.

Cooking oil Groundnut oil contains high amounts of energy, and high amounts of some vitamins and essential fats.

To make oil, groundnuts are first shelled and cleaned. You will need an oil press which extracts the oil from the groundnuts, as well as filtering equipment.

There are many oil presses on the market, some of which are simple to build. See Resource document #1 for more on the principles of extracting oil.

Flour Groundnut flour is very commonly sold in retail shops and by individual vendors. The flour is often made from small or broken kernels, and either pounded by hand or processed in a hammer mill.

Peanut butter To make peanut butter, start with shelled and roasted groundnut kernels. Sort the nuts to remove split, mouldy and shrivelled nuts (to reduce the risk of consuming aflatoxin- contaminated nuts) and any stones or foreign matter. This helps to reduce aflatoxin contamination.

Roast the nuts at 218°C (425°F) for 20-30 minutes, or until the groundnuts are brown in colour, either on trays or in an oven, turning the nuts from time to time. Groundnuts can also be roasted in equipment similar to that used to roast coffee. The small rotary roasters used to roast coffee allow each groundnut to be evenly roasted.

Roasting adds value by increasing the flavour and aroma of the nuts. After roasting, the nuts are well-browned and the skins are loose. After thorough roasting, follow these six steps to make peanut butter:

remove the groundnut skins (if desired);

place the nuts in a grinder or blender;

grind until the groundnuts turn to a paste;

open the grinder cover and mix with a wooden spoon;

continue grinding until the product has a smooth consistency and there are no more broken kernels; and then

pour into containers and cover properly.

Nuts can be ground in hand-operated or motorized mills. The type of mill varies with the scale of production.

Salt can be added at about 2% by weight after the groundnuts have reached the right consistency. Peanut butter will last only a few months unless refrigerated, and is usually sold very soon after processing.

The type of peanut butter produced by this process is the “crunchy” variety. Adjustments to the mill can produce varying textures but, for the very smooth variety, a more sophisticated milling process is needed.

Marketing

In Malawi, most farmers sell their groundnuts shelled and raw. Many also sell groundnuts raw and unshelled, and a few sell fried or roasted groundnuts.

Most farmers in Malawi sell their groundnuts to vendors, and many sell in local markets. Almost all farmers sell their groundnuts as individuals, rather than as a group or co-operative. Most but not all groundnut farmers – both men and women – get information about where to sell and what prices to expect from their fellow farmers, while some market information comes from the radio or from extension workers.

One of the biggest challenges farmers face when trying to sell their groundnuts is being cheated by middlemen. Other challenges include difficulty in determining a selling price and the cost of transportation. Many growers say they are not satisfied with the selling price for groundnuts.

There are many challenges for farmers who want to make a living selling and processing groundnuts. Road and market infrastructure is poor in Malawi, and growing and processing specifications may not be standardized.

Most individual farmers cannot afford processing equipment. High levels of aflatoxin and poor prices make groundnut businesses challenging. There is limited access to credit and high interest rates.

A number of solutions have been put forward to address these challenges, including mobilizing farmers to form groups, and creating better linkages with other players in the value chain – for example, buyers, processors, and traders. Fair Trade schemes and other creative marketing efforts have been successful for some growers.

Two marketing methods which can benefit groundnut farmers are contract farming and warehouse receipt systems.

Contract farming
In contract farming, buyers contract outgrower farmers – often through associations, co-operatives or farmer groups – to provide a certain volume of groundnuts of a certain quality by a certain date. Buyers agree to pay a certain minimum price. Bonuses are sometimes available, depending on the price a buyer receives when selling the groundnuts. Depending on the details of the contract, the buyer may also provide outgrowers with technical advice and support, subsidized inputs, and transportation for harvested groundnuts.

One major benefit of contract farming is that it gives growers the security of knowing that their groundnuts will be sold, and at approximately what price. This security allows farming families to plan their household purchases and finances.

One potential downside of contract farming is that it can lead small-scale farmers to focus exclusively on outgrowing, especially growing a single contracted crop. This is a risky option for small-scale farmers.

Inexperienced buyers do not always manage contract farming well. There are significant costs to launching an outgrower scheme. Two simple strategies to reduce the risk of failure in outgrower schemes are to grow familiar crops that do not require training in new practices, and to work with crops that have multiple sources of seed.

Sometimes NGOs or other organizations help to establish codes of conduct for outgrower schemes, and monitor their success. Successful outgrower schemes develop contracts in full consultation with growers and discuss any difficulties faced by the growers.

Contracts should clearly stipulate issues such as:

the growers’ and the buyer’s responsibilities;

timeframes for land preparation;

farming practices;

delivery and quality of inputs;

credit and extension advice;

product quality; and

prices and payment.

Warehouse receipt system
In a warehouse receipt system (item #3 is a drama that includes discussion of a warehouse receipt system), farmers store their crops in a storage facility operated by a government or private company. Crops are graded and weighed when they arrive at the warehouse. Then the grower receives a receipt which records the volume of crops and their value.

Based on the value of the stored crop, farmers can access loans from some financial institutions up to a maximum percentage of the expected selling price for their crop. (In Malawi, the farmer receives 70% of the estimated selling price of the crop, though this varies from place to place, and from country to country.) The crop is stored until the farmer decides that the price is right to sell either all or part of the stored crop. When the crop is sold, the cost of storage and the costs associated with the loan are deducted, and the farmer receives the remaining funds, if any.

The warehouse owner guarantees to make good on any value lost to the stored crop through theft, fire or other catastrophes, often relying on insurance. This guarantee is critical to the success of a warehouse receipt system. It allows the farmers to transfer or pledge the warehouse receipt to other parties, such as financial institutions, or use it as collateral.

One major benefit of the warehouse receipt systems is that they allow farmers to receive payment soon after harvest, without waiting for prices to rise and the crop to be sold. With the money they receive as a loan, growers can purchase farming inputs and other household needs.

Also, by storing their crop in the warehouse until later in the season, farmers receive higher prices. Storage facilities are generally secure and effective. Buyers benefit because they receive crops of a known quality and quantity.

The warehouse receipt system entails a number of risks. For example:

the price of the crop may drop, reducing the value of the stored goods;

there may be difficulties marketing the crop;

the farmer may not be able to fully repay loans; and

storage facilities or management systems may not work well, or the warehouse operator may not be able to make good on in-store crop losses.

These risks may be greater when there is no national government, regulatory control over warehouse receipt systems.

The groundnut value chain in Malawi

The first links in the groundnut value chain in Malawi are the input suppliers who provide seeds, fertilizer, pesticides, and other inputs to farmers. (Actually, most small-scale groundnut farmers in Malawi use recycled seeds, and do not purchase inputs such as fertilizers or pesticides for groundnut production.) The farmers sell their groundnuts (with minimal grading) to traders in the village or at the nearest trading centre.

A small proportion of farmers sell fresh nuts to traders, who sell the groundnuts in urban markets. Traders also sell groundnuts to assemblers or small traders at trading centres. These small traders grade and pack the nuts into 50-kilogram bags which they sell to big processors or traders, and foreign traders (largely Tanzanians and Burundians). The big processors or traders process some of the nuts into peanut butter and roasted salted nuts. Some are repacked into smaller quantities and sold through supermarkets, and the remainder are exported.

As mentioned above, farmers process some groundnuts at home to make flour, oil, and cooked or roasted nuts. This is mostly for home consumption, though a small percentage is sold at local markets.

It is estimated that 60% of all groundnuts produced in Malawi are consumed in the household or sold in local markets. The other 40% are sold in the main processing, export, wholesale and retail markets. Of this, 25% is sold in Malawi, while 15% is exported to the UK, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya. NASFAM Commercial, one of the big traders and institutional buyers, sells most of its nuts to the UK under a Fair Trade scheme.

Here is one diagram of the groundnut value chain in Malawi:
Figure 1 – Groundnut value chain in Malawi

The greatest opportunity to increase groundnut farmers’ income lies in increasing yield. Currently, farmers’ yields are less than 50% of the potential for all varieties. Grading and effective post-harvest handling would enable farmers to negotiate for a higher price. One challenge is that some buyers offer the same price for graded and non-graded nuts. Collective marketing, which is not common, would also strengthen farmers’ voice and power in the value chain. (See item # 6 in this Resource Pack for an example of collective marketing.)

In Malawi, small-scale groundnut farmers fall into two main categories: those that are organized and those that are not. The few farmers who are organized operate in clubs, associations and co-operatives with assistance from farmer organizations, NGOs and government departments. Assisting organizations include: NASFAM, CARD, World Vision, FUM, CUMO, OVOP, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade. There are over 100,000 groundnut producers in Malawi and 15,000 are NASFAM members.

IV. Production ideas

There are many ways to create radio programming on the post-harvest part of the groundnut value chain. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Interview a successful groundnut processor or trader from your local region. Get her to tell her success story, what practices she uses and how she runs her business, and ask listeners to call or text-in with questions and comments. You might also talk to one or more representatives of a successful processing and/or marketing co-operative (see item # 6 in this package for an example of a successful groundnut processing and marketing co-operative).

Interview a groundnut expert fromthe extension services or a regional, national or international research organization (a list of organizations can be found below in section 5). After the interview, you could invite listeners to call or text-in with questions and comments. Questions to ask the guest include:

What are the best opportunities for farmers and farmer groups to benefit from growing, processing and marketing groundnuts in this region?

Is it important for individual farmers to join a group in order to benefit from the groundnut value chain? If so, please explain why.

Produce 4-6 radio spots which talk about the benefits of processing and marketing groundnuts. Each spot could start with the same “punchy” lead line and discuss one important benefit.

Host or chair a roundtable discussion on groundnuts in your community. Invite representatives from various groups – farmers’ groups, extension agents and Ministry representatives, large and small processors of groundnut products, large and small traders, traditional leaders, representatives of NGOs and research institutes that work with groundnuts, and groundnut farmers.

Interview members of farmers’ groups with successful groundnut enterprises. Follow up with a call-in or text-in program which discusses whether the group’s approach would work for other farmers or farmers’ groups.

Adapt the items in this package to your local situation by conducting local research. Follow up broadcasts of the items with call-in and text-in programs or roundtable discussions.

V. Further resources on the groundnut value chain in Malawi

Resource organizations

These are some of the organizations who are involved with groundnut processing and marketing in Malawi.

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Farm Radio International is a Canadian not-for-profit organization that works in direct partnership with more than 500 radio partners across 38 African countries to fight poverty and food insecurity. Our materials are also available electronically to broadcasters and to rural development organizations in Africa, Asia and Latin America.